How Biofeedback Technology Helps in Stress Reduction?

Stress is a common factor in today’s fast-paced world. We all experience stress – at work, at home or on the road. Sometimes we feel this stress more because of a bad interaction with someone, too much work or everyday hassles like getting stuck in traffic. No one’s life is completely free from stress; just you will have to know how to manage the stress in your life. There are multiple ways of reducing stress and Biofeedback Technology is one of the popular options to opt for. 

Modern science has provided us with numerous advantages, and one of these advantages is the biofeedback technology. Biofeedback technology in Detroit is a mind-body method that helps in managing certain bodily functions such as heart rate, breathing patterns, and muscle responses.

What is Biofeedback?

Biofeedback is an alternative medicine approach which teaches an individual to change the way their body functions. It is a mind-body therapy that helps in improving physical and mental health. A biofeedback session involves non-invasive monitoring equipments and instruments for measuring the body’s involuntary functions. This includes heart rate, breathing and muscle tension. Based on the feedback that the healthcare provider will get from the instruments he can suggest an individual to create voluntary changes for most involuntary functions. With time, education and practice, an individual can learn how to make those bodily changes without equipment. Though Biofeedback is not a standalone treatment for most conditions, it can help in managing symptoms of certain conditions.

What are the Conditions that Biofeedback Can Treat?

• Anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression

• Hyperactivity disorder or Attention Deficit

• Chronic fatigue syndrome

• Chronic pain including chronic lower back pain, chronic pelvic pain and other pain symptoms

• Constipation

• Epilepsy

• Fecal incontinence and urinary incontinence

• Fibromyalgia

• High blood pressure

• Insomnia

• Migraine headaches and tension-type headaches

• Motion sickness

• Reynaud’s  syndrome

• Tinnitus

What Happens During the Biofeedback Therapy?

In a biofeedback session, a qualified healthcare professional attaches non-painful sensors or devices to your body. The sensors detect physiological signals from your body, including:

• Breathing: Bands with sensors on them are attached around your stomach or chest for measuring your breathing rate and pattern.

• Heart Rate: Heart rate is measured with a pulsometer or sensors connected to an electrocardiogram

• Muscle Movement and Tension: Muscle movement and tension are measured using surface electromyography which involves sensors on skin above certain muscles

• Sweat: Sweat is measured using galvanic skin response (GSR) sensors, typically placed on your fingertips and/or palm.

• Electrical Brain Activity: Electrical brain activity is measured using an electroencephalography (EEG), which uses sensors placed on your scalp. EEG biofeedback is referred to as neurofeedback as well.

• Skin Temperature: Skin temperature is measured with the help of skin sensor.

Computers analyze the data from these sensors or devices and promptly relay it to you. Depending on the kind of therapy you undergo, you might perceive the feedback as:

• Visual, similar to modifying graphic displays or patterns on a display

• Auditory, such as differing pitches or shifts in music loudness.

• Haptic refers to experiencing vibrations via a wearable gadget.

• Virtual reality, such as an engaging video game, is particularly beneficial for children.

When you get the feedback, your provider will clarify its significance. Next, they will propose methods to alter the way your body operates. This will change based on your motivation for seeking biofeedback therapy.

What are the Potential Benefits of this Treatment?

The main benefit of Biofeedback technology is that it will make you feel more in control of your health and wellness. Through practice in and between sessions, you can discover how to implement minor adjustments to reduce stress, enhance performance, and alleviate discomfort and pain. However, to realize possible advantages, you need to engage actively in the therapy and be motivated to learn and implement changes.

How Biofeedback Helps in Reducing Stress?

(a)    Helps You Understand Stress Responses

A variety of changes occur in our body when we experience stress. We experience increased heart rate, faster breathing and higher blood pressure, perspiration, muscle stiffness or trembling, chilly extremities, parched mouth, discomfort or pressure in the chest, queasiness or gastrointestinal distress, or stomach ache. For the majority of individuals, we typically encounter a number of these changes frequently. For instance, a person might often experience chest discomfort and trembling when under stress, but may not recognize significant sweating or a parched mouth. Biofeedback therapy enables you to identify the specific changes occurring in your body during stress, allowing you to monitor how techniques like breathing or relaxation affect those physiological changes.

(b)    Increase Focus on Stress Management

Biofeedback prompts you to focus intently on your body's sensations and responses to stressful circumstances. By being more mindful of your body, you can use one of the breathing or relaxation methods to alleviate your stress and restore balance to your nervous system.

(c)     Increased Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the foundation for biofeedback therapy. You can note changes in your body after using biofeedback techniques which will help in reducing stress. Once you tune into the way your body feels and responds to stress, you can increase your ability of mindfully observing changes in your body. Additionally, practicing paced breathing you can also increase your mindfulness.

(d)    Focusing on Breathing Patterns for Developing Deep Breathing Exercises

In biofeedback therapy, techniques for breathing are the fundamental method for controlling stress. Specifically, paced diaphragmatic breathing serves as an efficient method for alleviating stress. The diaphragm is a muscle located beneath your lungs that rises and falls as you breathe. By monitoring your diaphragm while you are breathing can enhance your lung capacity thus allowing you to more effectively deliver oxygen, to the lower lobes of your lungs.

The speed of your breath is just as crucial as engaging your diaphragm in biofeedback. In biofeedback therapy, you discover the optimal breathing rate that activates a relaxation response within your body. Typically, ensuring your exhale lasts longer than your inhale (for example, inhale for 4 seconds, and exhale for 6 seconds) is a fundamental method to regulate your breathing.

Bottom Line

Therefore we can say that Biofeedback Technology helps in stress reduction by taking definite control of body’s involuntary functions that are caused by stress. Your body reacts in a multiple ways when you are feeling stressed and Biofeedback helps you in learning about these changes so that you can utilise breathing or relaxation techniques which can help you in better managing stress. You can get in touch with White Dove Global Marketing Ltd to get Biofeedback therapy for Stress Relief in West Bloomfield.